finding beauty in the small things
During lockdown the little phrase ‘find beauty in the small things’ seemed more important than ever and as summer began and the daisies flowered so this embroidery design took shape.
I have always been a lover of daisies, my dad once told me that I would cry when he wanted to mow the lawn because he would chop all the daisies heads off. I don’t remember it but I don’t think much has changed for me. Sitting in the grass in a garden or a park making daisy chains is something we’ve all probably done without thinking about whether it’s a good daisy chain or not. The perfect attitude to making. I have clearly made a difference in my head between me picking daisies for a daisy chain and my dad lopping their heads off!
And so my lockdown daisy pattern is finished but given the nicer title of ‘find beauty’. I have used a lot of split stitch (although you could use back stitch instead) and a mix of two strands and single strands to give it a little more delicacy. Once you have the hang of french knots the going will be easy. I have been asked if it will be a panel and I am working on it but the panel may be a little different as the lines will be permanent and are difficult to cover with a single strand.
Also this week I treated myself to a needle minder. I have wanted one for the longest time, not least because there are a lot of complaints about needles found on the floor by bare feet! This beautiful heart is designed by Maggie Magoo designs and I bought it from cloudcraft (where I also bought my Robert Kaufman Essex linen for my next embroidery project). The magnet is super strong and it’s big enough to have a couple of needles on it.
More lockdown fun has been beginning a crochet blanket for my daughter’s return to university in September, although it’s a bigger project than I originally thought so it may be for when she goes back after Christmas!) The design is by the fabulous Attic 24 she has a link in her sidebar to the wool for all her blankets. There are lots of lovely crochet projects to choose from on her blog. The instructions are great and my blanket is staying the same width rather than getting wider and wider (my usual crochet issue!).
I damp stretched my embroidery but somehow didn’t get the main crease out! I’m not sure how it happened but I will be redoing it and photographing the process for a tutorial here on the website soon.
Lastly I have been keeping sane by going sea swimming at 7am (ish) every day and a couple of days ago there was a seal in the bay. I admit that I am slightly afraid of large creatures in the sea (I’m also quite scared of small jellyfish) so I’m pleased to say I wasn’t swimming with the seal just admiring him from a distance but nonetheless it was a lovely experience. I thoroughly recommend outdoor swimming if you are lucky enough to have water near you, it’s surprisingly addictive.
I have been asked about ways to follow my blog here on the website but at the moment I can’t find a simple way to do this. So if you sign up to my newsletter I will put links to the blog posts in there and send out a blog post newsletter.
I would love to hear about the small things that have been making you happy recently whichever season you are in at the moment